Around 10% of the British population suffers from phobias, ranging from the more unusual genuphobia — a fear of knees to agrophobia — fear of the outside. Whatever the cause of your anxiety, Gill says you can shed your fear and take control of your life. In a presentation entitled Taking Control of Your Emotions at the Silvermere Golf Complex in Cobham next month, she will demonstrate how to use a range of techniques to ease conditions like anxiety, depression and pre-menstrual tension. Gill’s method focuses on Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), a technique used to improve the way you think, behave and feel. She was trained by hypnotist, Paul McKenna and now heads up life coaching company Cadenza Coaching, to help others to overcome their fears. Gill said she felt it was important to overcome her own phobias in order to help other people. “I had terrible Arachnophobia,” she said. “It was to the point that I could not even watch them on television or hear the word spider. “It would drive my husband mad, so during my NLP training, Paul McKenna taught me how to overcome this phobia. On one of the training courses they had a phobia day where you could hold things like snakes and spiders. I held a spider called Olivia. “I can honestly say it has got rid of my spider phobia. I don’t love spiders, I don’t actively go and seek them out but now I’m able to deal with them by putting a glass over them and taking them outside.” Gill now uses her specialist knowledge to offer coaching for individuals and companies focusing on problem areas such as phobias, anxiety, fears, addictions stress and pain. She said that even symptoms such as pre-menstrual tension could be addressed using NLP techniques. She said: “Part of it is psychosomatic, as women, we hear very negative things about periods from a very young age. I want to look at the silly sides of periods.” Gill said that phobias are learnt through behavioural patterns. She said: “When I was a baby, we lived in Africa I was told not to touch spiders, so I know where my phobia comes from.” After spending more than 10 years working as a cabin crew member for a variety of airlines, Gill gained an Open University degree in Psychology. She said: “I’ve always had an interest in people and what makes them tick.” She then combined her interest in psychology with her managerial expertise to move into life coaching. She said: “I wanted to leave the corporate rat race and work for myself. When I discovered coaching, that was my light bulb moment. “I realised that what I had been doing all these years was coaching people rather than managing.” For more information on Gill Harvey-Bush, contact www.cadenzacoaching.com. Taking Control of Your Emotions takes place on Tuesday February 6 at the Silvermere Golf Complex, Cobham. Tickets are £15 for members and £20 for guests. Networking and a buffet supper is at 6.30pm and the meeting begins at 7.30pm. For more information and to reserve tickets, log on to www.ewib.co.uk.